title: Relationship of macrophage migration inhibitory factor levels in PBMCs, lesional skin and serum with disease severity and activity in vitiligo vulgaris.
abstract: Melanocyte loss in vitiligo vulgaris is believed to be an autoimmune process. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is involved in many autoimmune skin diseases. We determined the possible role of MIF in the pathogenesis of vitiligo vulgaris, and describe the relationship between MIF expressions and disease severity and activity. Serum MIF concentrations and mRNA levels in PBMCs were measured in 44 vitiligo vulgaris patients and 32 normal controls, using ELISA and real-time RT-PCR. Skin biopsies from 15 patients and 6 controls were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR. Values are reported as median (25th-75th percentile). Serum MIF concentrations were significantly increased in patients [35.81 (10.98-43.66) ng/mL] compared to controls [7.69 (6.01-9.03) ng/mL]. MIF mRNA levels were significantly higher in PBMCs from patients [7.17 (3.59-8.87)] than controls [1.67 (1.23-2.42)]. There was also a significant difference in MIF mRNA levels in PBMCs between progressive and stable patients [7.86 (5.85-9.13) vs 4.33 (2.23-8.39)] and in serum MIF concentrations [40.47 (27.71-46.79) vs 26.80 (10.55-36.07) ng/mL]. In addition, the vitiligo area severity index scores of patients correlated positively with changes of both serum MIF concentrations (r = 0.488) and MIF mRNA levels in PBMCs (r = 0.426). MIF mRNA levels were significantly higher in lesional than in normal skin [2.43 (2.13-7.59) vs 1.18 (0.94-1.83)] and in patients in the progressive stage than in the stable stage [7.52 (2.43-8.84) vs 2.13 (1.98-2.64)]. These correlations suggest that MIF participates in the pathogenesis of vitiligo vulgaris and may be useful as an index of disease severity and activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Hai-Bo
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Xiu-Hao
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Chun-Mei
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Yu-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jun-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Rong-Zhen
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: An
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D058501:Enzyme-Linked Immunospot Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000737:chemistry*; D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors; D012333:RNA, Messenger